The present invention relates to absorbent devices for use in commercial applications for the absorption and containment of spilled or leaked hydrocarbons, incorporating additionally an ecologically-safe removal and disposal procedure for such leaks and spills.
In a broad range of commercial applications, there is a need to contain and remove liquid hydrocarbons that are spilled or leaked into the environment as part of the routine maintenance and operation of a wide variety of equipment that rely on liquid hydrocarbon products for fuel and lubrication. This is a critically important task necessary to prevent pollution of the environment, by for example, entry into the adjacent water column as the spilled or leaked liquid hydrocarbons seep through the ground or allowing the hydrocarbons to flow downstream as waste water runoff.
One common approach to the task is to use an absorbent device to contain such spills. A wide variety of components, including items such as cotton, peat moss, rice hulls and ground-up corn cobs are used in the fabrication of these devices. One such device relies on ground-up chicken feathers encased in a cotton pillow case. The largest class of sorbent devices are typically composed of a group of non-woven, petro-chemical based fabric materials having the physical properties of absorbing liquid hydrocarbons while repelling water. These devices can be packaged as a flat pad or sheet, or can be rolled into a long cylindrical boom for placement to absorb and retain leaks and spills caused by the equipment. They are also packaged as strips of the non-woven fabric encased in an open weave plastic net, resulting in a sausage-like boom.
In each instance, these devices are placed in areas where liquid hydrocarbons accumulate, extracting the liquid hydrocarbons from the area.
Prior art absorbent devices of this type are subject to the release of the absorbed liquid hydrocarbons by gravity, column weight or outside forces exerting pressure on such devices as they are removed from the liquid hydrocarbon containment area. Disposal of these devices results in the displacement of a substantial volume of the absorbed liquid hydrocarbon pollutants from one environment to another.